Ralf Rangnick sends Erik ten Hag message on Man Utd struggles
Ralf Rangnick claimed Manchester United needed major surgery when he leaving the club in 2022 and after another slow start to this season the now Austria boss believes his claim remains true
Ralf Rangnick has said his claim that Manchester United require “open heart surgery” has been proven right as current head coach Erik ten Hag faces fresh scrutiny following their disappointing start to the season.
Before leaving Old Trafford following an interim spell in charge Rangnick, who is now Austria head coach, delivered a brutally honest assessment of United’s issues in which he said it was easy to pinpoint the problems at the club but there needed to be a collective change.
And more than two years on, with United's football department now being run by the INEOS group, he has claimed that the same problems remain despite significant spending in the transfer market.
United finished a disappointing eighth place last season, winning 60 points with a goal difference of minus one, only for Ten Hag to keep his job after a creditable FA Cup win against neighbours Manchester City at Wembley.
But Ten Hag’s revamped side have lost two of their opening three Premier League matches this season and, speaking on TV over the weekend, Rangnick said his past comments have rung true.
“I probably made that statement when the season was almost over about two years ago. It is probably only two or three weeks since Erik ten Hag was asked the same thing.
“Then he said that I was right in my analysis. I don’t know how many players they have signed since, but it looks like I was right.”
When about to leave Old Trafford in the summer of 2022, Rangnick said: “You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are.
“Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things.
“In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart. If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together then it makes sense and I believe it doesn’t take two or three years to change those things. This can happen within one year.”
United return to Premier League action on lunchtime Saturday with a trip to face Southampton at St Mary's. But after losing heavily to Liverpool before the international break, Ten Hag is already facing fresh waves of criticism only a few weeks on from signing a new contract.
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